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Now that Lucas is in Kindergarten I feel strangely free. Since we are not together all day anymore, I have to make more of an effort with our time together. I am back on pulling seasonal books for us to enjoy together.

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of back to school madness. Lucas began kindergarten at his school and Ezra began fifth grade a week later at his new private school. We are so blessed and happy that both boys seem to love their teachers and their new schools!

Here is Lucas on the first day of kindergarten. So excited and happy.

He really wanted a picture of the second day as well, so why not? He is too cute!

Here is Ezra on his very first day of fifth grade.

We decided we needed a pic of the second day as well, if for no other reason that he really loved his outfit choice.

Note the “Nerd” socks. He is very into funny tall socks these days… it must be a thing because I see many other boys his age doing it.

So far both boys are excited each day for school and I couldn’t be happier. Making the decision to send them to school this year was one I lost many nights of sleep over. However, now that it is in session I feel very good about our decision. Everyone seems to have found their flow very easily. I listen to them gabber on excitedly about their day on the way home. I have time to help Paul at the store and a little more time to run errands and take care of life and things that were much more of a chore with kids in tow.

Last October, we finally got around to pouring our hot tub pad. We took awhile to decide where the best place for it would be. We settled on a corner of the yard by the side door, which exits from the sunroom.

I never did get a picture of the concrete pad complete, because mere days after it was poured Paul broke his ankle and Ezra broke his collar bone. Our life was turned on its side for a few months.

It wasn’t until March that we were actually able to set the hot tub.

Doesn’t it look cold out there?! See all the frost on the cover? Brrrr.

Here is how our hot tub is looking this summer.

We may build an arbor over the top of the tub to tie it into the pergola on the other side of the yard. We are unsure what we want to do exactly. We are however, loving the relaxation and fun having it provides our family.

Here is the view of our yard from the seat in the hot tub.

We are hoping the fruit trees we planted last September will heighten and fill out to give us even more blockage from the neighboring house back there.

Our hot tub is a Hotspring brand tub, if you are interested you can check out their site HERE.

xoxo

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This April I signed up to do something that at the time seemed a little crazy. Myself along with about twenty others from my gym formed a team and signed up to run the 2014 Warrior Dash. (You can go to their site to see if they have one in your area)

Here I am pre-race, a little nervous!

I stole some of the pictures from their site to illustrate some of what the race entailed. It was three miles with eleven fun obstacles.

It was one of the most exciting things I have done in awhile. I left the race feeling exhilarated and empowered.

The entire town area was set up to celebrate the warrior dash. They had live music playing all day and into the evening.

The run was mostly fun, jogging along, climbing over stuff, through mud and laughing along the way. There were a few hairy spots but I never felt in danger. The Warrior Dash is what they call a fun run. (There are more intense competive ones like The Spartan Race, The Tough Mudder etc.)

I am so glad I had this experience and I think I may even have Paul talked into running it with me next year!

Here are a few tips for anyone thinking of running a fun mud run.

1. Bring a plastic bag for your clothes after the race or to sit on in your car. They have rinse off stations at the finish line but it isn’t enough to get all the muck off.

2. Check a bag. They have bag check areas where you can keep a bag with our phone,money and change of clothes. This was very convenient.

3. The tall socks I am wearing in the picture were not only cute but functional. They SAVED my shins going over some of those walls.

4. Go with friends. At one point my buddy had to give me a hand up over one of the walls and I was very thankful for it!

5. Don’t wear shoes that you won’t want to part with. They take all the muddy shoes and donate them to charity. Trust me, you won’t want to deal with washing them after that! So back to number 2, bring shoes in your bag that you check.

6. Sunscreen! I didn’t wear any sunscreen. The race was at a higher elevation at a ski resort so I got scorched. Ouch!

We are so blessed to be surrounded by Colorado beauty in our backyard. Last weekend we took a camping trip to Lake City, which is only two hours away from home.

Because we were so active while there, most of my pictures were taken with my phone. The quality does not do justice the beautiful scenery! This is Lake San Cristobal which Lake City is named after. It is a five minute drive from town. Our campground was nestled between Lake City and the Lake which gave us the best of both worlds!

Lake City is a very small untouched gem in Colorado. There is some tourist traffic due to its location near so many 14ers, but it hasn’t been corrupted by traffic or commercialism yet. There are only a few restaurants, an ice cream shop (which was wonderful) and a great little town park. We found a great little mini golf, which I didn’t get any pictures of, that the children really enjoyed.

While at Lake City we did a little canoeing with the children. I was very impressed with both of their attention to water safety. Ezra had recently completed a water and boat safety coarse so I am sure that helped him focus on being safe.

The boys also spent some time fishing which was very relaxing for me as I sat on shore and read surrounded by the lovely scenery. Below are the boys with their cousins who joined us for one day on the lake.

On our final day in Lake City we biked some of the great trails which run just outside of town along the river. Lucas has just learned to ride his big boy bike (up from his balance bike), and had a bit of a spill. All in all it was a great day and we were able to bike around town even and to the great little playground they have near the ice cream shop.

Our camp site was small but backed up to the woods where the boys enjoyed running around on little trails and making forts to hide in.

Ezra was elated to find fresh mountain raspberries growing right near our campsite!

We enjoyed Lake City and plan on making another trip there sometime. I understand they have a beautiful fireworks display over the lake for the 4th of July. Additionally, I have heard their Wine Fest is lovely.

My grandmother had these cabinets in her home for as long as I can remember. She stored her doll collection in them. I remember going to them as a child and she would playfully scold me “No no leah, those are grandma’s dolls.” I loved gazing at her collection, touching the fine details on the handmade treasures. I knew they were something very special because she kept them in her special cabinets.

When the cabinets were given to me, I was elated. They are a constant reminder to me of my grandmother and he special things. I wanted to give them a loving update and I contacted some local refinishers to see what the cost would be to give them a nice update. The number was a little outside of my reach.

I was terrified to try to refinish them myself, however a girlfriend of mine had been using chalk paint and reported it was very easy to work with. After a long pep talk (seriously had the paint sitting on my kitchen counter for two weeks prior), I dug in.

I used black chalk paint and then distressed with sandpaper to give it that flat chalky distressed look.

Then I waxed with a finishing wax to seal it. I love how they turned out!

I loooooove how they turned out. They look elegant still with a modern refinishing.

As the universe moves and shifts opportunities sometimes arise that make you look at your choices a bit more closely.

This summer, while Ezra and I were on vacation on the Cape, I received a text message from a friend of mine who runs a local private school. I had been working on a community project with her during that time and she knew a little about our homeschooling and had grown to know a little about Ezra. In the text, she stated that there was one partial scholarship available at the school left for the 5th grade class.

It hit me hard. Was the universe trying to tell me that Ezra needed this opportunity? I had so much respect for this woman, this teacher, but the thought of sending Ezra to private school never really was allowed because the options in the area were mostly religious or like her school was very expensive. The thought of a partial scholarship for him meant we may be able to send him there for 5th grade?!!!

The wheels turned and we discussed with with Ezra’s father, our family and with Ezra. We toured the school and it was like a dream! This school was exactly what Ezra was needing!

So our big announcement is that Ezra will be attending a lovely private school this year for 5th grade. We are so excited about the school community, the curriculum (Spanish, yoga, guitar, business!!!).

Since we will be paying tuition for Ezra to attend the school I will be working a bit more at the store helping my husband and keeping our home flowing, which means Lucas will be starting Kindergarten! I am so excited to see how he grows! He is very excited about his new big boy school, especially art class he says.

I have to admit, I was in mourning a bit about letting go of our homeschool. I learned so much about my children in the year we spent schooling together and I loved having the time with them. You never know, we may end up homeschooling again down the road, but for now we are on the path to school. What doesn’t bend breaks I say and I knew that I had to look at something the universe was trying to put in my child’s path rather than get stuck on my personal desire for our homeschool dreams.

I will of course share how it is going and how the boys are thriving. It is going to be a big year!

Thank you, universe, friends, family for supporting us on this journey. Our journey bends and flows as we parent these beautiful boys and I like to think that we are following the path that is laid out for us!

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August is the time of year that for us seems to be when the flies are everywhere.

I found this quick and easy trick to keep them away from your food buffet or tables when you are having an outdoor eat out (or indoor if they are bugging you indoors for that matter.

Simply take a small mason jar, cut an inexpensive sponge to fit inside of the jar. Now put about 20 drops of lavender essential oil on the sponge and a tablespoon of water. Close up the jar and let it sit overnight so that the oil will really permeate the sponge.

When you are ready to serve your food just open your jars and set on tables. It really did do the trick. I am not saying there were not any flies, it is August, but they didn’t seem to swarm and linger around our food!

Hope you give it a shot.

If you are interested in trying DoTerra oils let me know! I am very impressed with the purity and potency of them. Or check out their site HERE.

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